---
title: Contributor Communication
description: Communication strategy and framework for the Model Context Protocol community
---

This document explains how to communicate and collaborate within the Model Context Protocol (MCP) project.

## Communication Channels

In short:

- **[Discord][discord-join]**: For real-time or ad-hoc discussions.
- **[GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/discussions)**: For structured, longer-form discussions.
- **[GitHub Issues](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues)**: For actionable tasks, bug reports, and feature requests.
- **For security-sensitive issues**: Follow the process in [SECURITY.md](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/blob/main/SECURITY.md).

All communication is governed by our [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). We expect all participants to maintain respectful, professional, and inclusive interactions across all channels.

### Discord

For real-time contributor discussion and collaboration. The server is designed around **MCP contributors** and is not intended
to be a place for general MCP support.

The Discord server will have both public and private channels.

[Join the Discord server here][discord-join].

#### Public Channels (Default)

- **Purpose**: Open community engagement, collaborative development, and transparent project coordination.
- Primary use cases:
  - **Public SDK and tooling development**: All development, from ideation to release planning, happens in public channels (e.g., `#typescript-sdk-dev`, `#inspector-dev`).
  - **Working and interest group discussions** (`#client-implementors`, `#agents-wg`, etc.)
    - **Working Group**: Some specific goal or project in mind (such as an SDK, inspector, registry, server-identity, load-balancing, etc).
    - **Interest Group**: An abstract gathering of folks that might raise a range of various topics. Some might get actioned on as one-offs, others might spin into Working Groups.
  - **Community onboarding** and contribution guidance.
  - **Community feedback** and collaborative brainstorming.
  - Public **office hours** and **maintainer availability**.
- Avoid:
  - MCP user support: participants are expected to read official documentation and start new GitHub Discussions for questions or support.
  - Service or product marketing: interactions on this Discord are expected to be vendor-neutral and not used for brand-building or sales. Mentions of brands or products are discouraged outside of being used as examples or responses to conversations that start off focused on the specification.

#### Private channels (Exceptions)

- **Purpose**: Confidential coordination and sensitive matters that cannot be discussed publicly. Access will be restricted to designated maintainers.
- **Strict criteria for private use**:
  - **Security incidents** (CVEs, protocol vulnerabilities).
  - **People matters** (maintainer-related discussions, code of conduct policies).
  - Select channels will be configured to be **read-only**. This can be good for example for maintainer decision making.
  - Coordination requiring **immediate** or otherwise **focused response** with a limited audience.
- **Transparency**:
  - **All technical and governance decisions** affecting the community **must be documented** in GitHub Discussions and/or Issues, and will be labeled with `notes`.
  - **Some matters related to individual contributors** may remain private when appropriate (e.g., personal circumstances, disciplinary actions, or other sensitive individual matters).
  - Private channels are to be used as **temporary "incident rooms,"** not for routine development.

Any significant discussion on Discord that leads to a potential decision or proposal must be moved to a GitHub Discussion or GitHub Issue to create a persistent, searchable record. Proposals will then be promoted to full-fledged PRs with associated work items (GitHub Issues) as needed.

### GitHub Discussions

For structured, long-form discussion and debate on project direction, features, improvements, and community topics.

When to use:

- Project roadmap planning and milestone discussions
- Announcements and release communications
- Community polls and consensus-building processes
- Feature requests with context and rationale
  - If a particular repository does not have GitHub Discussions enabled, feel free to open a GitHub Issue instead.

### GitHub Issues

For bug reports, feature tracking, and actionable development tasks.

When to use:

- Submit SEP proposals (following the [SEP guidelines](./sep-guidelines))
- Bug reports with reproducible steps
- Documentation improvements with specific scope
- CI/CD problems and infrastructure issues
- Release tasks and milestone tracking

### Security Issues

**Do not post security issues publicly.** Instead:

1. Use the private security reporting process. For protocol-level security issues, follow the process in [SECURITY.md in the modelcontextprotocol GitHub repository](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/blob/main/SECURITY.md).
2. Contact lead and/or [core maintainers](./governance#current-core-maintainers) directly.
3. Follow responsible disclosure guidelines.

## Decision Records

All MCP decisions are documented and captured in public channels.

- **Technical decisions**: [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues) and SEPs.
- **Specification changes**: [On the Model Context Protocol website](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/draft/changelog).
- **Process changes**: [Community documentation](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/community/governance).
- **Governance decisions and updates**: [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues) and SEPs.

When documenting decisions, we will retain as much context as possible:

- Decision makers
- Background context and motivation
- Options that were considered
- Rationale for the chosen approach
- Implementation steps

[discord-join]: https://discord.gg/6CSzBmMkjX
